Home
by Nehszriah
Summary: From a tumblr prompt regarding how Clara got a key to the TARDIS again after the events of Last Christmas


A/N: The following is the result of a tumblr prompt asking for a fic about Clara getting a key for the TARDIS again after the events of Last Christmas. I don't think there's anything out there like this, and if there is, then I missed it somehow.

1153 words; picks up at the very end of Last Christmas (or Best Christmas, in some circles); makes use of Pinkwald and the mentioning of Danny; just a bunch of fluff and maybe a bit of angst but mostly fluff; approximately canon levels of romantic admittance and physical interaction; nice and short for once it's good to write a quick one every now and then

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Home

He held out his hand, eyebrows raised hopefully. "Please, don't even argue," he said, and she accepted. Putting her hand in his, they ran through the house (a small holiday rental, booked back when Danny was still alive), rushing outside into the TARDIS. The ship welcomed them in, glad they were both together again. She still didn't all the way like Clara, but if her presence made her thief happy, then so be it.

"Oh, where are we going to go first?" Clara asked excitedly. "Do we want to meet Queen Anne or visit a space colony in the distant future? Will there be aliens and danger and mysteries or will it just be to show off? Are—" She spun to look at the Doctor and stopped, seeing that he was standing by the console, silent as he rested one hand on a lever and had the other at his side. "What's wrong?"

He stood there, quiet and still. She slowly made her way across the room and put her hands on either side of his face, gently cradling him as he gazed down at her. "Nothing," he lied.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I am."

The Doctor took Clara's hands in his and brought them to his lips, pressing a kiss to the knuckles before she brought them down to touch his shoulders instead. His hands found her face instead, his thumbs brushing over her cheeks and the tips of his fingers becoming lost in her hair. It had been freshly washed before bed and still smelled of green tea and citrus.

"I once offered that the TARDIS could become your home," he mentioned. "It still stands, if you've changed your mind."

"I betrayed your trust—do you really want that?"

"Of course." He brought his hands down and reached into his trouser pockets, palming a small item to keep it from view. Gingerly, he took her hand and held it open, putting a small key on a length of string in her grasp. She recognized it instantly: it was for the TARDIS lock.

He was giving her the key to all of time and space.

"Betraying my trust makes no difference when it comes to you," he assured her. She looked at the shiny piece of metal in her hand—so low-tech and simple compared to the machine it gave access to—and couldn't help the tears welling in her eyes. He wiped them away with the cuff of his sweatshirt, giving her an encouraging smile. "Go ahead. Pull the lever."

She nodded and did, sending them off into time and space until a loud thud announced that they had landed. The Doctor offered his arm to Clara, at which she hesitated.

"I'm in my nightie," she remembered.

"That makes no difference here," he said. "I know where we are—there is no other intelligent life, sentient, sapient, or otherwise. We are the only two who know that is your nightie." The TARDIS thrummed crossly and he patted the console. "Okay, we're the only _three_."

Chuckling slightly, Clara accepted the Doctor's arm and walked out of the TARDIS with him, into a green, moons-lit night. They had landed in a forest, with birdsong, frogs, and various insect sounds filling the air. Plants all around them glowed a soft blue, shimmering ethereally, outlining a path taken by migratory animals many, many times before them.

"Where are we?" she wondered.

"Kinross." She glared at him, at which he shrugged. "I didn't say _which_ place called Kinross—there's more than one you know."

"…and this is one of them…?"

"Why not?"

"You are impossible."

"That's sort of the idea."

Rolling her eyes, Clara allowed the Doctor to lead her along the path, coming to rest at the edge of a long lake gone silver in the moonslight. They sat on a rock in silence, listening to the water and feeling a slight breeze in the air. A two-legged lizard…? Snake…? Clara wasn't certain, but it seemed reptilian and it crept along the pebbly beach into the water, disappearing with a small _plip_. She looked at the key still in her hand and shook her head.

"I don't deserve this," she said, holding out the key. "I know what you said, and I know it had been a trick all along, but it still doesn't change the fact that I actively made the decision to destroy all of these."

"That was grief. We do bizarre, drastic things when we grieve."

"It was still wrong of me." Holding out the key farther, she looked at him, her eyes wide and watery. "Please, take it."

The Doctor exhaled heavily—he was not used to being so blunt with Clara. She was worth it though—eternally so in his eyes, and thus bent down on a knee in front of her. He folded her fingers around the key and squeezed them tight, keeping eye contact with her all the while.

"You are entitled to a key to your home," he stated. "We are not meant to be apart, and this signifies that. What is mine is yours. TARDIS and all."

"It's more than I deserve."

"It's _everything_ you deserve."

Gently, the Doctor took the string attached to the key and placed it around Clara's neck so that she could wear it as such. She laughed nervously, it turning into a happy sob.

"That life I lived without you," she sniffled, "the one those Dream Crab things trapped me in… I dreamt about this. As I traveled the world, was courted by many, lived what was otherwise a full and exciting life, I never stopped wishing for this… wishing to be with you again."

"Merry Christmas, Clara Oswald—our wish came true."

Clara lunged forwards and before the Doctor could react, he had been knocked over onto the ground, her arms draped around his shoulders as she clung to him. She cried and cried as he held her, shifting her position so that she sat across his lap and rested the side of her head against his chest. By the time she finally cried herself out, his sweatshirt was damp from tears and his trousers wet from the incoming waves off the lake.

"How about we go back to the TARDIS, hmm?" he suggested. "Maybe going out in the middle of Kinross in your nightie wasn't a good idea."

"Okay," she nodded. Clara stood and helped the Doctor up, the both of them walking slowly back to the TARDIS, arm-in-arm as before. When they got to the ship, he motioned with his other arm, encouraging her forward.

"The honors."

She took the key hanging around her neck and stepped towards the TARDIS, sliding the piece of metal into the lock. Turning it, she felt the mechanism give way and a grin spread across her face. The door opened and Clara faced the Doctor, tears forming anew.

"I'm home."


End file.
